stylists and hair & make up artists Feb 2016

"Deconstruct any good quality food image and you'll see that despite the photographer, the impact of the food stylist and prop stylist is essential. Food styling is the art of making the food look great for the camera, while prop styling is there to build a certain look, send a message and tell a story. These skills require expertise and experience. However, there are circumstances when the client cannot afford to hire a big team."

Anna Tsaregradskaya is a Dubai-based food photographer and stylist who started with classical photography training in London, fell in love with the subject of food, and just could not help but reach out on set.

Anna’s food styling work includes numerous cookbooks and magazines, ad-campaigns and food-related content for different media. Her prop styling services include an extensive collection of props and a deep understanding of tendencies and styles.

Selected clients are PepsiCo, Ahmad Tea, Kitchen Aid, Shangri-La, Hilton, GlobusGourmet, SimpleWine and The Financial Times.

Visit Anna’s portfolio to see more.

Born in Brussels, Brigitte Petit's passion for hair and make-up started when she was very young. With both her father and brother being hairdressers, she inherited a talent for delivering precise, flawless and breathtaking work.

After obtaining her diploma at the Jacques Dessange hair salon, Brigitte moved to Milan where she worked for Italian television. A year later, at the age of 22, she decided to take her passion to the next level and moved to London for a more diverse and innovative atmosphere.

She joined the famous avant-garde Children of Vision salon, renowned for its pioneering work in 'monofiber' hair extensions, and also expanded her career into make-up after completing a course with Jean-Pierre Finotto.

Fashion, advertising, editorial and music videos, Brigitte loves the diversity and constant challenges that her work brings. Constantly inspired by the world around her, Brigitte's gift to create and transform is unparalleled.

Hers Agency represents top London home economists, food stylists, general props stylists, production buyers and interior stylists working on commercials, films, Web video, television and food photography.

Clients include advertising agencies, design companies, PR, publishers and food photographers working across all areas of the food industry: advertising, PR, direct marketing, food packaging, cookery books and magazines. Other services include food consultancy, product development, cookery demonstrations, recipe development, recipe testing, food writing, propping, styling on set, and art direction.

Clients include Subway, Morrisons, Batchelors, Harrods, Tesco, Walls, Waitrose, Iceland, McDonald's, Sainsbury's, IKEA, Lidl, Men’s Health, Ballantyne's, Asda, Moe’s, Ben & Jerry’s, John Lewis, Wallpaper* and Haagen Dazs.

Kelly Upson is one of Bostonʼs top freelance food stylists and has over 18 years of experience in preparing food and beverages for photography and film.

While working as a photographer in Miami and Boston, Kelly had the opportunity to work with a variety of food stylists and learn many tricks of the trade.

A career as a food stylist combines her visual skills with her passion for food.

Based in Boston and Florida, Kelly also travels to wherever the next project will take her, where her patience, attention to detail and easy-going nature help to provide a successful shoot.

Silvia Gerzeli is a freelance make-up artist and hair stylist based in Florence, central Italy, from where she easily moves throughout the country and abroad. She is specialised in fashion make-up and hairstyling and works primarily on photo shoots and video productions.

Her passion for make-up means her portfolio is constantly growing thanks to the many collaborations she is involved in. She also focuses on special effects and body painting and continually studies new techniques, with regular trips to London and across Europe to work with local professionals to learn about the latest styles.

Silvia is extremely diligent and precise and "absolutely loves" her job! She appreciates the many different facets and genres that allow her to provide clients with the very best results - not only concerning make-up and hair, but also through her presence on set.

She recently started to plan, direct and realise a beauty photo shoot for Lui Magazine Italia alongside some very talented photographer friends.

When Simone Jay Styling met the editor of The World of Interiors magazine over dinner at a friend's place in London, she knew she would be a stylist. Simone has a distinct eye for beauty and loves creating strong images. Her signature is recognised as timeless and conveys a certain stillness, whether it involves props or wardrobe.

Simone has more than 20 years' experience working for international clients including Samsonite, Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedez, Four Season Hotels, Deutsche Post, Coca-Cola and Marks&Spencer, as well as leading Dutch companies such as Heineken, KLM/Air France, Philips, Albert Heijn, ING Bank, RABO Bank, The Dutch Ministry of Defense and Dutch Rail.

In 2015, Simone created stills for the Rijksmuseum Restaurant hosting chef André Chiang. She also produced hand-painted backgrounds for chef Sydney Schutte at the Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam, and was asked to come up with a concept for the new Rijksmuseum web shop, which will be developed later this year.

Susana Sánchez has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance make-up artist and hair stylist for more than 18 years. She has collaborated with leading companies such as Shiseido, Lâncome, Stilla, Sebastian Professional, Redken and L'Oréal, and is now sponsored by Dior and Balmain Hair Couture.

During all these years, Susana has combined her work in publicity and fashion, finally becoming an expert in beauty.

"I started as an assistant and was incredibly lucky to learn from the best hairdressers and make-up artists. I’ve been involved in both national and international fashion productions and I feel proud that brands and the best professionals trusted me when I started - and still do! I love my job, and I still have the feeling I can learn many things. I deal with every new project with passion."

Susana is based in Barcelona but takes pleasure in travelling and working all over the world.

Valeria Orlando is a make-up artist with more than 20 years of experience collaborating with many renowned photographers including Mario Testino, Steven Klein, Johan Rench, Eolo Perfido, Andrea Massari, Nikolay Biryukov, Stefania Paparelli, Benedikt Renc and Andeer Brogard.

Milan is now her home, but she has travelled throughout the world to locations including Rome, Rio De Janeiro, London and New York City.

Valeria is a multi-faceted artist whose work ranges from fashion to advertising, editorials and catwalk events. Her work has been published in leading fashion magazines and she has collaborated with renowned stylists such as Donatella Versace and celebrities including Catherine Zeta Jones and Lena Katina. In September she was a key artist at New York Fashion Week.

She speaks Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently. Honesty and passion are the distinctive elements of her approach, and she continually works on her professional development to improve her knowledge about new techniques in the cosmetic industry.

She is represented by Beleza in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), Current Studios in the USA, and HM Battaglia in Milan (Italy). Valeria also has her own make-up line V)Or.

Zhanna Galati is an experienced and inspired fashion make-up artist. Starting her career in Moscow, she now works worldwide. "Fashion doesn't have a country or nationality, it has passion and the ambition of dreamers and creators all over the world."

Zhanna works on Moscow fashion weeks, bridal weekends, look-books and designer campaigns with fashion photographers in Russia and Asia. She is also a personal beauty consultant and make-up artist at Dior (Moscow), teaches fashion make-up master-classes, and does airbrush body painting.

Her goal today is in creating 'wet skin' and 'healthy skin' make-up. She is skilled in a range of techniques and works with a variety of products, and also likes to mix 'unmixables' like strobing and contouring, wet and dry products.

Having a good understanding of texture and skin, Zhanna can create a look from scratch. Fully committed to achieving outstanding results, she is an artist who is "eternally in love with make-up".